Arturs Neiksans (Latvian: Arturs Neikšāns, born 16 March 1983) is a Latvian chess player who has held the FIDE title of Grandmaster since 2012. He is a four-time Latvian champion, one of the leading Latvian chess players, an FIDE-accredited chess trainer,[2] author and a commentator of high-level chess tournaments.
| Arturs Neikšāns | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Neiksans during the FIDE Grand Prix Riga stage, July 2019 | |
| Country |  Latvia |
| Born | 16 March 1983 Valka, Latvia |
| Title | Grandmaster (2012) |
| FIDE rating | 2561 (November 2024) |
| Peak rating | 2631 (December 2016)[1] |
Biography
editBorn in Valka (a small Latvian bordertown with Estonia), Neiksans started to play chess relatively late for an eventual grandmaster, being 9 years old upon learning the game. At age 16, he received the title of a national master, and at age 18 he was ranked as an international master. In 1999, being only 16 years old, Neiksans won the Latvian Chess Championship, thus becoming the youngest-ever Latvian champion. He beat Mikhail Tal's record, which was set in 1953, by several months.
After graduating from high school, Neiksans essentially left competitive chess, and after receiving an MBA Master's degree in Public Relations, he mostly worked in the field of communications, most notably the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science.[3] He later also worked at the newspaper Jelgavas Vestnesis. At age 27, he was offered the position of head chess coach in the Riga Chess School. He continued the interrupted work of the Latvian grandmaster Janis Klovans, who had just died at the age of 75. Every day, Neiksans, who was still an IM at the time, would work on his chess. He needed slightly more than one year to get all of the required three grandmaster norms, thus getting the coveted title at the age of 28,[4] which for professional chess players is considered to be quite late. In 2012, he received the FIDE trainer's title as well, and in 2016, his ELO rating peaked at 2631.
Personal achievements
edit- Four-time Latvian champion (1999, 2011, 2015, 2019)
- Summer Chess Classic C tournament, USA – 1st place (2019)[5]
- Ilmar Raud Memorial, Estonia – 1st place (2015,[6] 2020[7])
- President's 2nd Cup, Riga – 1st place (2019)[8]
- RTU Open 2016 A tournament, Riga – shared 1st place, 3rd in tiebreaks (2016)[9]
- Liepājas Rokāde 2016, super tournament, Liepāja – shared 1st place, 2nd in tiebreaks[10]
- 5th Vladimir Petrov memorial, Jūrmala shared 1st place with Vasyl Ivanchuk, Loek van Wely and Alexander Shabalov, 4th in tiebreaks[11]
- 9th Wunsiedel Chess Festival, Germany – 1st place (2015)[12]
- Liepājas Rokāde 2009, open tournament, Liepāja – 1st place (2009)[13]
- Seven times played for the national team of Latvia in the World Chess Olympiads (2000, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2024)
- Two times played for the national team of Latvia in European Team Chess Championships (1999, 2011)
- Participant of FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021[14]
Coaching
editFrom 2010 to 2021, Arturs Neikšāns was the head coach at Riga Chess School,[15] on a daily basis working with the most talented Latvian youngsters, among them Nikita Meshkovs, Toms Kantāns, Laura Rogule, Katrina Amerika (Skinke), Elizabete Limanovska, Dmitrijs Tokranovs and others. Many of them later would become grandmasters themselves and the core of the Latvian national team.[citation needed] He left the job in late October 2021 just before the start of FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss.
Neiksans still does coaching, providing private lessons.[16] He is currently coaching YouTuber and International Master Levy Rozman, also known as GothamChess.[17]
Author
editIn 2018, Neiksans started a collaboration with one of the leading online chess education portals Modern Chess, eventually producing four popular theoretical databases:
- Moscow Variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...d6[18]
- Rossolimo Variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...Nc6[19]
- Baltic variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...e6 and sidelines[20]
- Positional Repertoire against the Caro-Kann[21]
Right after Neiksans switched to writing courses for Chessable, publishing his first course in July 2021. Ever since he's produced a total of four theoretical courses.
References
edit- ^ "FIDE Chess ratings". ratings.fide.com.
- ^ "Neiksans, Arturs FIDE Chess Profile – Players Arbiters Trainers". ratings.fide.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Sākums". Izglītības un zinātnes ministrija (in Latvian). Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "List of titles approved by the 1st quarter PB 2012, Al-Ain, UAE". fide.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Pairings & Results | C | www.uschesschamps.com". uschesschamps.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com – Ilmar Raud Memorial". chess-results.com. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com – Ilmar Raud Memorial Tournament". chess-results.com. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - II Latvian Chess Federation President Blitz cup -2019 26.01". chess-results.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "«RTU Open 2016» uzvar Ukrainas pārstāvis Martins Kravtsivs | Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte". rtu.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Latvijas Šaha Federācija". sahafederacija.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Loek Van Wely wins Vladimir Petrov Memorial on tie-break | Chessdom". 7 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "GM Neiksans Arturs gewinnt Wunsiedel Schachfestival 2015". steffans-schachseiten.de. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ ""Liepājas rokādē" uzvar Artūrs Neikšāns". liepajniekiem.lv. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Open Event Participants – FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss 2021". Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ "Par mums". sahaskola.lv. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "GM Arturs Neiksans coaches chess students". lichess.org. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ "Levy Rozman's first tournament victory on his "Road to GM" journey - ChessBase India". 31 July 2024.
- ^ "Moscow Variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...d6". modern-chess.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Rossolimo Variation against the Sicilian – Complete Repertoire against 2...Nc6". modern-chess.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Anti-Sicilian Repertoire – 2...e6 and Sidelines". modern-chess.com. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
- ^ "Positional Repertoire against the Caro-Kann". www.modern-chess.com. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ "Lifetime Repertoires: Reversed Sicilian". www.chessable.com. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
- ^ "Lifetime Repertoires: Kan Sicilian - Chessable". www.chessable.com. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ "Announcing the 3rd Annual Chessable Awards - Chessable Blog". 2 February 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ "100 Repertoires: King's Indian Attack - Chessable". www.chessable.com. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ "Leningrad Dutch: Simplified - Chessable". www.chessable.com. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
External links
edit- Arturs Neiksans rating card at FIDE
- Arturs Neiksans player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- Arturs Neiksans chess games at 365Chess.com
- Arturs Neiksans chess games at ChessTempo.com
